Isaac Mayer Wise was a Reform rabbi, publisher, author, and a towering figure in nineteenth-century American Jewish life. Born in Steingrub, in Moravia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was the son of Leo Weis, a teacher, and Regina Rebeka Weis. He received early Hebrew education from his father and later studied in Prague. In 1843, he was appointed rabbi in Radnitz, where he served until he departed for America in 1846. In 1844, he married Theresa Bloch, daughter of Hermann and Anna Bloch. Upon their arrival in America, they changed the spelling of their surname to Wise.
Initially he served as rabbi of Congregation Beth-El in Albany. During the eight years of his tenure there, he initiated many reforms, including the counting of women as part of a minyan, allowing men and women to sit together during services, and eliminating the Bar Mitzvah—which he considered outdated—in favor of a confirmation ceremony, open to both boys and girls. He applied to be rabbi at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim in Charleston and informed the congregation that he did not believe in the coming of the messiah or the resurrection of the dead, and members of the shocked synagogue published his statements in a newspaper. Word got back to Albany, and in 1850 the trustees of Beth-El fired him. Despite this, he showed up the next day to lead services, and a fight broke out between his defenders and detractors. It was so rowdy that the sheriff was called, the synagogue cleared, and the doors locked. This marked the end of Wise’s time with the congregation.
His supporters started a new congregation, Anshe Emeth, where he served as rabbi until 1854. Because Anshe Emeth was unable to pay his full salary, in 1852 some of his supporters, particularly Senator William H. Seward, helped get him a position as chaplain of the Legislature of the State of New York.
In 1853, he accepted a position as rabbi of Congregation Bene Yeshurun at the Lodge Street Synagogue in Cincinnati on the condition that it be a lifetime appointment. The following year he moved to the city that he would indeed call home for the rest of life having just published The History of the Israelitish Nation, a controversial book that, he claimed, was based in “such facts as are able to stand the test of criticism,” eliminating numerous cherished miracles and dogmas. Soon after his arrival, he began publishing The Israelite (later The American Israelite). He spearheaded the building of the new Plum Street Temple, erected in 1866, later renamed the Isaac M. Wise Temple. He also led efforts to found Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, a Reform theological seminary which opened its doors in 1875.
Wise also worked to try to unify American Judaism, beginning with the Cleveland Conference of 1855, followed by several other rabbinic conferences and the founding of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States.
Wise published numerous books, including The Essence of Judaism, Judaism and Christianity: Their Agreements and Disagreements, Judaism: Its Doctrines and Duties, as well as about a dozen novels. He also compiled and composed Minhag America, a prayerbook that was quickly adopted by most of the Reform congregations in the southern and western United States.
Theresa and Isaac had ten children, and after Theresa’s death, in 1874, Isaac married Selma Bondi, with whom he had another four children.
